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(No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. W. PRAZIER.

MAGAZINE FIRE ARM.

Patented Dec. 18, 1883.

(No Model.)

4 Sheets-Sheet 2.

JVW. FRAZIER. MAGAZINE FIRE ARM.

Patented Dec. '18, 1883;

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Patented Dec. 18, 1883.

(No Model.)

J. W. PRAZIER.

MAGAZINE FIRE ARM. No. 290,636.

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MAGAZINE FIRE ARM. No. 290,636. Patented Dec. 18, 1883.

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JOSEPH \V. FRAZIER, OF XEV YORK, X. Y., ASSIGXOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, TO THE SPEXCER ARMS COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

MAGAZINE FIRE-ARM.

SPECIFICATZON forming part of Letters Patent No. 290,636, dated Deccmbcr 18, R8

Application filed January 4, 1883.

T0 aZZ whom it may concern,

Be it known that I, JOSEPH W. FRAZIER, of the city and State of New York, have invented certain Improvements in Magazine Fire-Arms, of which the following is a specification.

My improvements relate to that class of breech-loading fire-arms in which the breechblocl; has a downward movement to get it out of the way while the empty shell is being extracted from the chamber of the gun, and thereafter an upward movement for the purpose of carrying upward a loaded cartridgeshell and presenting it in proper position for insertion into the chamber of the gun. s The object of my invention is to adapt such breech-blocks for employment in connection with detachable cartridge boxes or magazines of the trapezoidal form shown in Letters Patent of the United States No. 221,328, dated November 4, 1879, granted to James Lee, for improvement in magazine firearms. I accomplish this object by providing in the under side of a carrier-cell formed in the lower portion of the breech-block a longitudinal slot, into which the mouth of the cartridge-box is inserted, whereby cartridges are successively delivered from the mouth of the cartridge-box into the carrier-cell. By the extreme upward movement of the breeclrblock the carrier-cell is brought into alignment with the chamber of the gun, and mechanism is then brought into operation to thrust forward the cartridge from the carrier-cell into the chamber of the gun.

The characteristic feature of my invention is that the cartridge box or magazine is aflixed to and moves with the breech-block, the usual provision being made for detaching the cartridge-box when empty and rapidly substituting for it another cartridge-box which is filled with cartridges.

In the accompanying drawings I have represented my improvements as applied to a repeating gun having an oscillating breechblock which is operated by a reciprocating forked slide provided with a handle adapted to be grasped by one hand and moved in a path parallel with the axial line of the barrel,

(X0 model.)

while the other hand retains its hold upon the stock. as more fully shown and described in Letters Patent of the United States No. 2553945, dated April 4, 1882, granted to Christopher M. Spencer and Sylvester H. Roper.

The drawings are as follows: Figure '1 is a longitudinal vertical section of the receiver and adjoining portions of the barrel and stock of the gun, showing the breech-block with the magazine attached thereto in its central or firing position. Fig. 2 is a similar section, showing the breech-block in its lowest position, which it occupies during the extraction of the empty shell from the chamber of the gun. Fig. 3 is a similar section, showing the breechblock in its highest position. Fig. 4- is a transverse section taken through the line 00 00 on Fig. 3.

The drawings represent the portions of the barrel A and the stock B of a gun, which adjoin the receiver 0, containing the oscillating breech-block D.

The mechanism for operating the breechblock is the same as that shown and described in Spencer and Ropers patent, before referred to, and consists of a forked slide, the two arms of which have their paths of motion upon opposite sides of the receiver. The arm on one side carries acam-pin, which engages a cam-groove formed in the side wall of the breech-block. This cam-groove is provided with a pivoted switch, alongthe inclined front and top ofwhich the cam-pin travels during its backward excursion, and beneath which it travels during its forward excursion. The other arm of the forked slide carries a spring-finger with a notch near its end for engaging and extracting the empty shell in its backward excursion, and for inserting a fresh cartridge into the chamber in its forward excursion, precisely as it operates in the Spencer and Roper gun. The breech-block contains the carrier-cell E, which is longitudinally slotted at the bottom to receive the open upper end of the cartridgebox F. tridges lying sidewise one upon another, the lowermost one of which rests upon the mova ble bottom f, affixed to the expanding zigzag springf.

The box F contains a number of car- Prior to the attachment of the cartridge-box to the breech-block it is filled with cartridges, which are held in the box by a latch or yoke so arranged as to be capable of disengagement after the cartridge-box is attached to the breech-block, or to be disengaged by the act of attaching the box to the breech-block. As such yokcs or latches are well known, and do not form apart of my invention, I do not deem any further description of them necessary.

For the convenient attachment of the can tridge-box to the breech -block, the upper portion of the forward end wall of the cartridge-box is provided with a transverse notch, F, to receive the bar F inserted transversely through the lower front wall of the breechblock. The rear end wall of the cartridge box is provided with a similar notch, G, to receive the nose of the spring-latch G, affixed to the breech-block in the rear of the cartridge-box. The cartridge-box is easily attached to the breech-block by first inserting the forward end of the box far enough to enable the bar F to fall into the notch F in the front end wall, and then pressing the rear end of the cartridge-box upward with a force sufficicnt to wedge back the spring-latch G, which ultimately falls into the notch G when the rear end of the box has been pushed up to its place.

To detach the box from the breech-block it is pressed backward and downward, thus caus ing the spring-lateh G to yield and the notch F to be disengaged from the bar F after which the notch G in the rear end is easily disengaged from the nose of the spring-latch G.

In operation, after the box is attached to the breech-block, the uppermost cartridge is pressed against the top of the carrier-cell, the side of which is longitudinally slotted to ad init the notched end of the spring -finger, which engages the flange or base of the uppermost cartridge, and in its forward excursion carries the uppermost cartridge forward into the chamber of the gun. The oscillating breech-block is then brought down to its firing position by the concluding forward movement of the forked slide. The uppermost cartridge having been thus loaded into the chamber, its place is taken by the next cartridge delivered from the mouth of the box F, and so on until the box is exhausted, when it is to be detached and refilled in the usual manner.

The operation of carrying the cartridge forward from the carrier-cell into the chamber is performed by the same mechanism as that shown in the Spencer and Roper patent, before referred to, and does not, therefore, need special description herein.

I claim as my invention 1. In a breecl1loading fire-arm, the breechblock movable independently of the receiver, and connected with and carrying the box or magazine for containing a supply of cartridges superposed sidcwise, substantially as shown and described.

2. In a breech-loading fire-arm, the movable brceclrblock having secured to and moving with it the cartridge box or magazine for containing a supply of cartridges, substantially as shown and described.

8. Ina breeclrloading firearm, the mova ble breech-block provided with a cell for receiving the cartridge, and a cartridge box or magazine for containing a supply of cartridges superposed sidcwise, and also containing an ejecting-spring for forcing such cartridges successively, by a sidewise movement, into the cell in the breech-block preparatory to their being successively inserted in the chamber of the fire-arm by the operation of its leading mechanism, substantially as shown and described.

JOSEPH \V. FRAZIER.

Witnesses:

SAMUEL W'nnrxerox, Tilers-ls G. GREENE. 

